The 10 Best Kitchen Knives

If you buy just one blade, make it the Victorinox Fibrox Pro, which America's Test Kitchen named the winner among its budget chef's knives. It's stamped from thin steel, so it feels light and glides through onions and herbs without much effort. The textured handle stays put in a wet hand, and Victorinox covers it with a lifetime warranty against defects. It looks plain, and the handle can feel cheap until you start cutting.

Cooks who like some weight behind each stroke should look at the Wusthof Classic. It's forged in Solingen, Germany, from one piece of steel, with a full bolster that shields your fingers and a riveted handle that runs the length of the tang. In a side-by-side lab review of 13 chef's knives, it scored highest overall. The heft can tire small wrists, and that bolster makes the heel slow to sharpen.

For a thinner, harder edge, the Shun Classic pairs a tough steel core with 68 layers of rippled cladding, all made in Japan and ground to a narrow angle. It keeps its sharpness longer than most chef's knives in independent cutting tests, and Shun will resharpen it for free. The wooden D-shaped handle fits a right hand best. Hard steel can chip if you twist it in winter squash or knock it against bone.

A serrated blade handles crusty loaves, ripe tomatoes and layer cakes that a straight edge would crush, and the Mercer Millennia Wavy Edge does that job for very little money. Its long, wide blade spans a whole sourdough boule, while the rounded teeth slice soft sandwich bread without tearing it. Mercer builds it for restaurant kitchens, so the textured black handle is all function. The blade feels a little heavy, and it should stay out of the dishwasher.

The Victorinox Swiss Classic paring knives come as a pair, so one can stay in the drawer while the other rides along in a picnic basket. The short, straight blades are sharp and light, well suited to hulling strawberries, peeling apples and trimming shallots in your hand. Bright orange handles stand out in a sink full of suds. These thin stamped blades flex under pressure and won't last as long as a forged paring knife.

Thin and nimble, the Mac MTH-80 marries a Japanese blade to a Western-style handle and a small bolster. A row of shallow dimples along the edge keeps sliced potatoes and apples from clinging. Reviewers who compared chef's knives side by side singled it out for precise, controlled slicing, and Mac covers it with a 25-year limited warranty. The wooden handle needs hand washing and drying, and the fine edge can chip if it meets bones.

The Mercer Renaissance brings the forged, riveted German build to a modest budget. Its bolster stops short of the heel, so the whole edge can reach your sharpener and the cutting board. The handle is a tough plastic meant to survive long restaurant shifts, and the taper-ground blade arrives keen. It is heavier than a stamped knife, and outside evidence is thin: one major test kitchen recommended it, and little else has been published.

Cooks who want to spend as little as possible can start with the Mercer Millennia, a sensible first chef's knife. It's stamped from Japanese steel and paired with a textured handle that grips well, and one major test kitchen named it the best buy among budget knives. Reviews split, though: a separate lab found it dull out of the box and roughly finished. Plan on a good sharpening early, and expect the bumpy handle to bother some hands.

Light and striking, the Global G-2 has a blade and hollow handle made entirely of stainless steel, with no rivets or seams where food can collect. The edge is ground thin and sharp, and a pattern of dots on the handle gives your fingers something to hold. Global covers it for life against defects. The narrow handle can feel small in big hands, and it turns slippery when wet or coated in oil.

Sized for bagels, sandwich loaves and tomatoes, the Victorinox Fibrox Pro Bread has fine pointed teeth on a light, slightly flexible blade. The textured handle stays secure in a damp hand, and the knife is built in Switzerland. It saws through crusty bread cleanly, but it can't span a wide country loaf in one pass, so you'll work in from both sides. Washing it by hand helps the teeth stay sharp.